Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the HMRC data errors that created incorrect pension information on the check your state pension online service in 2019 have now been fully corrected.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP has worked closely with HMRC since issues were first raised around forecasts for State Pension. A change to the Check your State Pension forecast service was applied in April 2021.
This change ensures that individuals who are at greatest risk of having errors or omissions on their National Insurance record that may affect their State Pension forecast, are identified at the point where they request a State Pension forecast. Such individuals are advised that HMRC will take the corrective action needed in order to update their National Insurance record. Once this work is completed, a State Pension forecast will be made available.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to establish an inquiry into the (a) governance of and (b) role of the Pensions Regulator in the Universities Superannuation Scheme.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No. The Pensions Regulator was created in 2004 by the then Labour Government to be independent.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will review the adequacy of financial support available for self-employed people who are adopting children.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises that it is crucial to the success of an adoption placement that an adopter is able to take time off work to care for and bond with their child.
We recognise that affordability may limit the time away from work that some self-employed adopters can take which is why statutory adoption guidance says that Local Authorities should consider making a payment - equivalent to Maternity Allowance - in cases where adopters do not qualify for any statutory payment because of their self-employed status.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 13 July 2020 to Question 69600 and Answer of 1 July 2020 to Question 63208, what progress has been made on implementing the decision of the court of appeal on 22 June 2020 on universal credit systems taking account of the day that a monthly salary is paid.
Answered by Will Quince
On 20th October I laid secondary legislation in response to the Court of Appeal Judgment made on 22 June in the case of Johnson, Woods, Barrett and Stewart, which concerned claimants who receive two calendar monthly payments of earnings in one Universal Credit assessment period. This will allow us to reallocate a payment of earnings reported via the Real Time Information service to a different Universal Credit assessment period, either because it was reported in the wrong assessment period or (in the case of calendar monthly paid employees) it is necessary to maintain a regular payment cycle. This will mean that claimants who are paid calendar monthly will therefore have one salary payment taken into account in each assessment period. It also means that certain claimants will also benefit from any applicable work allowance.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2020 to Question 905164, what new and existing data sources her Department is monitoring to understand the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on people who are (a) disabled or (b) have a health condition; and if she will publish her Department's analysis of that data.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people and those with health conditions using a range of sources. There will however be a period until the data needed to fully assess the impact becomes available.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is publishing a rolling programme of data and articles relating to the social and economic impacts of COVID-19, with specific outputs on disabled people in Great Britain.
The ONS also publishes quarterly statistics on the labour market status of disabled people.
The Department for Work and Pensions publishes statistics annually on the employment of disabled people. The first report was published in March 2020, including data from the Labour Force Survey, Annual Population Survey and Understanding Society.
Research into the long-term health symptoms and impacts of COVID-19 and the number of people likely to be experiencing them is ongoing.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will carry out a review into deaths of benefits claimants.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department interacts with millions of people, and among them are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. There are many reasons why people pass away whilst claiming a DWP benefit and it would not be appropriate for the Department to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of every individual. This is a consideration and decision for a Coroner.
As a department we want to do all we can to ensure people get the support they need. We are striving towards becoming a learning organisation, for example through the Serious Case Panel, which considers themes and systemic issues that come out of serious cases and makes recommendations for improvements.
Where the Department is made aware of a death and there is a suggestion or allegation that the Department’s actions or omissions may have negatively contributed to the customer’s circumstances an Internal Process Review will be conducted. Internal Process Reviews are not designed to identify or apportion blame, but to look at whether processes were followed correctly and what learning we can derive from this.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July to Question 69599, what steps she is taking to bring the performance at the Bristol personal independence payment assessment centre back to the published service standard of 90% of claimants being examined within 30 minutes of their appointment time; and if she will make an estimate of when that standard will be achieved.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
All face-to-face assessments for sickness and disability benefits are currently suspended in line with public health advice. During the Covid-19 period we continue to assess people based on written evidence alone, where that is possible, and have introduced telephone assessments. Telephony-based assessments do not fall within the same waiting time criteria. Once face-to-face assessment are reinstated we will work closely with suppliers to improve the waiting times whilst maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 May 2020 to Question 40669 on universal credit, prior to raising the local housing allowance to the 30th percentile, what assessment she made of the levels of need this would match.
Answered by Will Quince
Raising the local housing allowance (LHA) rate to the 30th percentile ensured over 1 million households will see an increase, on average, of £600 this year.
This increase means that 30% of properties in each broad rental market area charge a rent within the LHA rate, with the exception of 15 rates in central and inner London where the national maximum caps continue to apply. The national caps have also been increased and are now based on the Outer London LHA rate plus 20%.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the performance figures are for the Bristol assessment centre against the consultation centre target that 90 per cent of all claimants are seen within 30 minutes of their consultation time, for the last 12 months.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
For the last 12 months, the percentage of individuals seen at the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Bristol Assessment Centre within 30 minutes of their appointment time is 77.9%. This covers the period July 2019 to the 17 March 2020 when face-to-face assessments were suspended. We continue to work closely with suppliers to improve the waiting times whilst maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timescale is for changing universal credit systems and processes to reflect the ruling by the Court of Appeal on 22 June 2020 on the need to take account of the day that a monthly salary is paid.
Answered by Will Quince
I refer the Rt.Hon Member to the answer I gave on 1 July 2020 to Question UIN 63208: